


one timezone away

by maketea



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Phone Calls & Telephones, pre reveal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24792013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maketea/pseuds/maketea
Summary: even if he was a timezone away, chat noir would always be there to soothe her racing thoughts.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Comments: 27
Kudos: 200





	one timezone away

A one hour time difference meant a lot more at midnight than it did at midday, but Marinette didn't realise that until Chat Noir picked up the phone.

“ _ Salut _ ,  _ chérie _ ,” he said. “Everything okay?”

She smiled, playing with the flowers around her balcony. “ _ Salut. _ I’m okay, I just wanted to hear your voice. Did I wake you?”

“Nope, I was awake already.”

“Don’t you have to be up early tomorrow?”

“Well, not as early as today. I don’t have any of my… appointments… until evening, so I was planning to get up at eleven and look around London for a while.”

“You should bring me back Big Ben.”

He laughed. “You know I’d get you the moon if I could, My Lady.” There was a pause, and the rustle of bed sheets. She imagined him rolling onto his side in that way of his — slowly, lazily, tucking one hand under his cheek. “What are  _ you  _ doing up? I thought we made a deal that you’d start sleeping earlier.”

This time, Marinette laughed. She turned and eased shut the skylight, just in case her parents came to check in and found her out on the balcony.

“I was doing some Guardian studying, but now I’m just looking at the sky.”

“Ah, wait, let me get up and look at the sky as well. It’ll be romantic.”

She couldn't help it — she laughed again.

Chat Noir's week-long business trip was definitely taking a toll on her, but there was something reassuring about hearing his footsteps across the line and knowing he would be looking up at the same sky she was. She wondered whether London's pattern of stars would be the same as that of Paris. 

She didn't focus enough in Physics to answer that.

"Okay, I'm at the window," he said.

"Can you open it? I'm on my balcony. If you feel the wind we can pretend we're together."

"Sure." There was the click of a latch, and something swinging on its hinges. "It's raining though."

"Oh my God — close it, then!"

"No! I want to feel the wind!"

She rolled her eyes. "You'll catch a cold."

"Won't  _ you _ ? It's not much warmer in Paris."

Marinette made a face, and stayed quiet.

"Yeah, that's right, I checked the temperature," he said. "You'd better be wearing a sweater."

She looked down at the blanket she had hastily pulled over her tank top. "Something like that."

They lapsed into silence, but it wasn't one they felt they needed to break. They both looked up at their skies, comfortable in knowing they were one and the same, and held the phone line as they did. It felt not much different to the silences they'd usually have when Chat Noir was in Paris — the ones where she'd rest her head on his shoulder and they'd sit with their thoughts and the solace of having each other right there.

"Do you think you would've fallen in love with Ladybug if it wasn't me?" she asked.

Chat Noir didn't reply straight away. "Huh?"

"Like, if some other person got the Ladybug Miraculous. Do you think you would've fallen for them like you fell for me?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Don't sound so surprised. You know you're the only one for me."

"No, no, I'm not surprised. Actually, I knew you'd say that even before I asked." She pulled the blanket tighter around her, and watched a plane blink behind an overhead building. "I mean, are you sure? Like…"

"What's bringing this up, My Lady? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I promise! I just… I worded this all wrong." She combed back her hair against a breeze. "While studying, I found some notes I wrote when Master Fu was still around. Something about how the Ladybug and Black Cat wielders are always, in some way or the other, made for each other.

"At first… I don't know, I guess I read it metaphorically? I just thought it meant they're usually pretty compatible, but then I started thinking… what if it meant they were  _ really _ made for each other? What if, further down the line, a Guardian has to be trained to sense when two people are like— like soulmates, I guess? — and only those two people can be the wielders?

"But then I read some more today, and it said— wait, let me read it out." She minimised their call screen and opened her notes. "'The Ladybug and the Black Cat are yin and yang. These Miraculous holders will, without a doubt, always be drawn to one another.'"

She said nothing, after that, letting the words simmer — but also checking to see if Chat Noir had fallen asleep.

"Ooh," was his intelligent response. "So… that means…" He struggled for a second. " _ Désolé _ ,  _ chérie _ , I'm completely lost."

“No, no, I just… I started thinking.” She flexed her fingers against the railing. “Do you think… the reason every Ladybug and Black Cat wielder act as if they’re made for each other is  _ because _ they’re attracted to each other? Or is the reason they feel that attraction because they’re really,  _ really  _ made for each other?”

Chat Noir was quiet for a long time. She couldn’t even hear him breathe. The only way she knew the line hadn’t cut out was because of the patters of raindrops coming from his end.

“Well,” he said, “what do you want the answer to be?”

“This isn’t about want, though, is it?”

“I guess not. But I know what I believe.”

“What do you believe?”

"That it wasn't some ancient magic that made us fall in love with each other," he said. "It was us. We  _ are _ made for each other."

She felt the knot in her chest loosen. "You really think that?"

"Of course! You really think I could just fall for another Ladybug?"

At that, she didn't reply.

"My Lady, come on. Would any other Ladybug have your eyes? Your smile? Your temper—"

"Hey—!"

"—which I love so much?" He snickered. "Would any other Ladybug give me her hands to kiss when I need her? Would any other Ladybug do that thing you do when I kiss up your neck—"

" _ Okay _ ," she said, flushed, "okay, I get it."

He laughed. "My point is, I didn't just fall in love with you because you were my partner. I fell for every single bit of you, and no other Ladybug would ever be the same. I probably wouldn't have even continued being Chat Noir if  _ you  _ weren't my Ladybug."

Her breath misted, and she knew she would have to go back inside soon. “Thank you for saying that,” she said softly. “I feel the same way. If… if it weren’t for you… I would’ve given up my Miraculous a long time ago.”

“So? That means you were right. The Ladybug and Black Cat  _ have _ to be made for each other right from the beginning. There can’t be one of us without the other.”

Marinette fiddled with the ends of her blanket. From her balcony, she could just about make out their favourite rooftop from the sea of buildings in front of her. If she closed her eyes, she could find herself there, beside him, hearing his breaths through the phone muffled into the top of her hair as he cradled her.

Her heart ached.

"I love you," she said gently, and opened her eyes. "Come back soon."

"I'm in London, My Lady, I'm not dead."

She flushed; he laughed.

"I love you, too," he said. "And I miss you,  _ ma chèrie. _ I'll be back before you know it."

They lingered on the line before saying goodbye.

Marinette lowered her phone from her ear and pressed it to her beating heart.

She smiled.


End file.
